My wounds throbbed with pain as I searched the battlefield for Lulu, praying that she would still be alive and strong enough to heal me. Then, as I rounded a loamy mound, I saw a small figure. Lulu. My heart sank as I rushed forward and saw her arm was bent at an awkward angle. Worse, her face disfigured with one eye missing—it was clear that she was beyond help. She had been so kind to me when we first met, and it felt unbearably unfair that she should have died so young in a place like this.
I scooped the small mousegirl into my arms, the pain in my wounds a distant throb compared to the agony that Lulu must have suffered.
As I walked, I saw our rodent beast was down for the count, but there was no sign of Robin or Sam. I assumed they went to help the other group. At least, I hoped that was the case. I tried to listen for them, but the pain of every step made it hard to focus. In the end, I gave up, choosing instead to return to the clearing where we entered the lair.
As I made it back, I reluctantly laid Lulu down, and with shaking hands, I reached into my satchel and pulled out an old blanket. Trembling, I gently placed it over her body and stepped away.
I felt a sharp pain in my side and realised I'd have to deal with the injury I'd gotten during the fight. Unbuckling the armour, I tenderly touched my side, relieved to find the wound had stopped bleeding. Then I spread some ointment on the wound and immediately felt a coolness on my skin that brought me some relief. Carefully flexing my arms and legs to make sure they still worked, I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I looked down at Lulu's body one last time before turning away—I only hoped that the rest of my team would make it out alive.
I rose to my feet with a grimace of pain, searching for any sign of my team. The smell of beast rodent blood leading north suggested that Coach Liv had won and was now helping the other group, and I cocked my head to one side and listened intently for any sign of danger. In the distance, I could hear shouting and what sounded like swords clashing. My teammates must have moved away from the clearing. It was almost too quiet for me to make out any voices, but if I focused hard enough, I could just about make out Coach Liv’s instructions, Liam’s exclamations, Robin’s battle cries—and most importantly Al’s laugh. He was alive.
A cheer erupted in the distance, and I silently thanked the gods that everyone there must have made it out alive. But as they made their way back to the clearing, their groans of exhaustion told a story. Relief flooded through me that everyone survived with minor injuries, but guilt and sorrow still lingered in my heart that we'd lost Lulu.
Robin came running when she saw me.“You’re alive?!” She exclaimed, both excited and relieved. “I lost track of you in the fight. I’m so sorry. Did you find . . .” Her voice trailed off as she noticed the unmoving body behind me, and I saw tears forming in her eyes. Gathering her courage, she whispered, “Is that . . . Lulu?”
My throat tightened as I slowly nodded, unable to utter a single word. I’d seen death. You couldn’t help but see it growing up on the streets. But I had never felt this before - the deep sorrow and guilt that came with losing a dear companion. As I looked at my returning Lair team, I wondered how many of them had seen death? For how many of them would this be the first time seeing such a gruesome thing?
“Oh gods, this is all my fault,” Robin said, her voice barely above a sob. “I was supposed to protect her!”
“No, it is not,” Coach Liv stated firmly, placing a hand on her shoulder. “The only thing to blame is the lair; it changed the rules and made our mission far more treacherous than we imagined. Do not blame yourself for that.”
“That’s right,” Seth said darkly. “It is the lair’s fault and whatever that heroic presence it was talking about.”
At the mention of a heroic presence, Al visibly flinched and I could not help but feel a stab of guilt as well. Then I remembered her and Al talking before the fight. I remembered how upset she looked. How angry she was.
I stood and stomped toward Al, “What did you say to her?”
Al looked taken aback and slightly nervous. “What are you talking about?”
“I saw you. You were talking and she looked angry. What did you say to her?” I demanded.
“I . . . I told her to stay back,” Al answered. “If she’d listened to me, she’d still be alive.”
“You told her to . . . you told her not to fight?” I asked, not believing what I was hearing. “Why would you do that? Especially right before a big fight? You got in her head and now she’s dead.”
“I didn’t . . . that wasn’t what I was trying to do. You’ve seen her fight. You’ve seen how reckless she is . . . was,” Al amended, not daring to meet my eyes. He weakly said, “I was trying to protect her.”
“Instead, you got her killed,” I snipped angrily. “Clearly, you’re not the one with the Heroic Presence.”
Al looked devastated by the comment. It was no less than he deserved.
Congratulations! Your Uncommon skill Espionage has increased in Rank to Intermediate.
I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d done to earn the skill rank up, but I had a feeling I had successfully dissuaded Al from ever joining up with Rychania.
“That’s enough,” Coach Liv said with a hint of sorrow in his voice. “Bad things happen in lairs. Stop blaming each other and focus on getting through this alive. We can’t forget the loss of Lulu, but we must quickly mourn and press on. Otherwise, we may be the ones joining her soon.”
That was when I heard the pitter-patter of small feet again. “Three rodents, that way,” I said with a growl, pointing quickly and wincing in pain.
Coach Liv looked where I was pointing and frowned. “Seth, Liam, go deal with those.”
Seth frowned but stalked away to deal with it.
Coach Liv finally kneeled down next to me, “Are you alright, Burion?”
“Broken ribs I think,” I answered, ignoring the real question. Lulu was my friend and now she was dead. “I put numbing cream on it, but I could really use some healing if Al has any mana left. I’d take a potion, but I only have one and it’s probably better to save for a real emergency now that we’re down a healer.”
Coach Liv nodded, “Good thinking.” He stood up and yelled, “We’re down a healer, if any of you have any healing potions, save them for when someone is dying.”
I was about to thank him when I heard the three rodents suddenly vanish after a whoosh sound and a short-lived squeal. As soon as they died, there was a rumbling around us as nine plinths rose from the muddy soil. Eight of them formed a ring around a ninth larger plinth. And on top of each plinth was a reward chest.
Coach Liv grinned. “It seemed those last three were the missing stragglers needed to end this wave. And it looks like one for each of us and a large chest, probably with supplies,” he said as he stood and walked toward the chest in the centre, propping the lid open and nodding as he pulled out dry firewood, a bushel of corn, a campfire grill that would set over a fire, a couple large dead beasts I recognized as domesticated beasts often used in cooking, and a pair of cast iron spits to go with them. Finally, he pulled out a rune covered post which he promptly drove into the ground, causing it to light up and shoot a soft white glow into the air. After about four metres the light spread out, creating a dome around our muddy clearing.
“Safe zone pillar, a temporary one, but it will allow us to get some much-needed rest. Think of it as a timer to let us know when the next day of monsters begins,” Coach Liv explained.
“What about the chests?” Seth asked, looking on greedily. I didn’t know how he could stand there and stare so lustfully at a chest when one of our teammates was dead.
Coach Liv sighed. “You’ll have to find whichever one is yours. Unfortunately, it’s going to hurt you if you choose the wrong one. Or you can wait a bit and your chest will draw you to it to be safely opened.”
That was new information. I didn’t know the chests would eventually draw their owner to them. I cleared a Wandering Lair months ago and then I was able to smell which chest belonged to each of my then companions. Even now, I could do the same, including which one belonged to me.
I wanted him to feel some remorse for Lulu, but I felt I knew Seth well enough by now to know just how selfish and self centred he was.
Then Sam stepped up. “You’re being uncouth, cousin. Someone just died.”
Seth sneered. “And I’m trying to make sure I’m not one of those who ends up dead. Something in those chests might ensure I survive. So, forgive my being crass, but I will do whatever it takes to survive this place. And so should all of you!”
I hated that the scumbag was right. Those rewards just might help us survive. I sighed then pointed at one of the chests. “Seth, that one is yours.”
“How do you know?” Seth asked, doubtful despite his feet carrying him in the direction of the plinth and chest I said was his.
“I can smell it. Your scent is all over it,” I answered.
Coach Liv hummed, “Hold on a moment Seth. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure,” I answered.
“Then tell me, which is mine, I will check first to see if you are as good as you think,” Coach Liv said.
I pointed him in the right direction.
Coach Liv approached the chest I pointed him toward, only to stop in front of it. He looked it over carefully before closing his eyes and tensing as he reached out a hand and laid it gently on top of the chest. He cracked a single eyelid to look at his hand touching the chest. Not getting blasted away, he relaxed and opened both eyes fully. He opened his chest and extracted a pair of leather boots only to frown.
“I have boots, why give me boots?” Coach Liv questioned.
I was surprised to hear Alphonse speak up, “Muckwalker Boots, they’re enchanted to keep your feet dry and prevent them from getting stuck in the mud.”
“And how do you know that?” Seth demanded.
Al bristled at the doubt in Seth’s voice, “I recently learned the Identify and Appraisal skills. I finally took a professional skill, Enchanting.”
“Thank you, Mister Romano,” Coach Liv said. “These will be very helpful in this environment. Seth, please go ahead and open your chest.”
Seth stomped through the mud, opened the chest I directed him to, and pulled out a pair of boots that looked exactly the same as what Coach Liv received. The snakeboy showed the boots to Al.
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Alphonse frowned but told him what they were, “Muckwalker Boots, same Coach Liv’s.”
Al and I put off opening our chests but everyone else opened theirs and got the same footwear as Coach and Seth.
As soon as everyone got their rewards, disappointed though most of them were, Coach Liv started barking out orders. “Seth, Sam, Leonardo, Robin and Liam, you’re on corpse clean up. We need to pile up the bodies at the edge of the safe zone, wall them off with a trench, and build an extra layer of protection around our camp. We’ve got an opportunity to fortify our position so we’re going to do it. Al, I want you to meditate if you need it then heal Burion’s ribs. We’ll need him in fighting shape for what comes next.”
Seth complained loudly that this kind of drudgery was beneath him, but a shove and a softly whispered threat from Robin got him moving.
Al found a seat nearby and sat down to meditate and recover his mana.
Coach Liv returned to my side and kneeled down next to me, setting the stuff from the supply chest down next to me. “Do you think you can cook these?”
I nodded then winced. It would hurt, but I should have been able to handle it. “Can you build the fire, put the grill over it and put the beasts on the spits for me?”
“Certainly,” Coach Liv said, starting on building a fire.
While he did that, I pulled some supplies from my satchel. Half a dozen seasonings to doctor up the two beasts. Salt and butter for the corn. I wished I still had the energy to infuse the corn, the recovery it would grant everyone would have been a welcome boost, but my mana was only just starting to come back. There would be no magical cooking for this meal.
With Coach Liv’s help, we got the fire going and the beasts spitted. I occasionally turned the spit but for the most part just needed to leave it to cook.
Eventually, Al opened his eyes and moved sluggishly, eventually slumping back down next to me.
“Take off your armour and lift up your shirt. the healing will work better if there is nothing in between,” Al said, sounding drained.
I groaned as I unbuckled my leather cuirass and peeled it off. The padded under-shirt beneath was painful to remove. My ribs ached and I gasped as I saw the dark purple bruises covering my side and chest.
Al whistled, “That looks like it hurts.”
I grunted, “It does.”
“I’ll work slowly, it will hurt less that way,” Al’s hands lit up and I felt warmth suffuse my side.
“Thank you, Comrade Alphonse,” I said, focusing on cooking, on timing my ingredient preparation, rather than on how much I wanted to punch him in the nose.
“I’m sorry about Lulu. I thought I was helping,” Al said, surprising me slightly.
I nodded. “Thank you, Comrade Alphonse. This world . . . it is not a kind world. Kin like you and I, we fight so others don’t have to. I think Lulu felt the same way. No one fights as fiercely as she did if you didn’t have something to protect, no? I will miss her.”
“I wish I’d known her better,” Al said, his healing making a grinding sound rumble from my chest as the bones moved slowly, blissfully painlessly back into place. It was indeed a slow process as Al promised.
Al breathed a sigh of relief as his hands stopped glowing with golden energy. “There. All done, how are you feeling?”
I moved around, twisted a little, testing my ribs and was very happy to report no pain, “Much better.”
“Good, now which chest is mine?” Al asked, looking toward the two remaining plinths that held unopened chests.
“That one,” I said, pointing to the chest to the left of my own.
“Thanks,” Al said, moving to collect his own pair of Muckwalker Boots.
I barely paid attention to him until he gasped. He was holding a pair of boots and a stone that I knew too well as a skill stone.
“What’s that?” Seth demanded, sounding jealous that Al received more than him.
“A skill stone,” Coach Liv answered. “And it is his, so don’t even think about trying to take it. If you do, I will be taking your arm.”
Seth jerked back in fear at the statement. It was a threat that would have worked on everyone on my Lair Team but me. Still, the snakeboy was not happy and made it known. “Why does he get a skill stone and the rest of us don't?”
Coach Liv was quick to answer before anyone else started asking the same questions. “The lair rewards you based on your contribution. Al fought, led, and healed all of you. Besides, you don’t even know what the skill stone is. Maybe it is something basic?”
“Lairs don’t give out basic skills,” Seth protested.
Coach Liv barked out a laugh, “Ha, if only that were so. I would be a wealthy kin if it were. I will tell you honestly, I have received hundreds of basic skill stones over the years. Sure, they sell but it is a pittance compared to a common or uncommon skill stone.”
Seth huffed and crossed his arms, “Fine, what did you get?
Al frowned as he looked at the stone. It was a minute before he spoke, “Healing Aura. It’s a passive that will heal anyone in a certain range of me . . . well passive-ish. It takes a certain amount of my mana pool away from me if I learn the skill.”
Coach Liv nodded and hummed, “That is a very good skill. It is normal for passive skills to permanently take away from either your mana pool or stamina pool. You’ll find that with time, the loss is minimal.”
“That’s not fair,” Seth shouted angrily.
“What’s not fair, is everyone else working while you complain. Get back to work, Seth, or you’re going to find my foot up your backside,” Coach Liv threatened the arrogant snakeboy.
Seth snarled a lip in anger, growled, then stomped away. I almost wished he’d tested the coach.
“So, I should learn it?” Al asked, looking back at the stone.
Coach Liv shook his head. “I cannot and will not tell you what to do. You must make this decision for yourself.”
Al nodded and the stone crumbled away a moment later, having chosen to use it. He smiled slightly to himself before coming over to sit down next to me where I could immediately feel his healing aura sinking into my skin and mend the small cuts and abrasions.
“Is it helping your minor wounds?” Al asked as he worked off his mud caked footwear to exchange them for the Muckwalker Boots.
“Yes, I can feel my bruises fading away slowly but surely.”
Al nodded, “Okay, I need to meditate again. While healing you slowly was of a better quality, it sucked up more mana to do it. I really need to learn Mana Control.”
“Yes you do,” I replied, getting a dirty look from Al. “However, I have some time while the meat cooks, perhaps I can help you?
Al looked at me skeptically, “Really? No tricks?”
I shook my head and smiled ruefully, “No tricks, you healed me, the least I can do is help you out.”
Al nodded slowly, “Alright, I accept.”
“Good, first, meditate and recover, as soon as you’re ready, we’ll get started,” I promised, getting a nod in return.
I returned my full attention to cooking the food. The heat from the fire was intense, and sweat beaded on my forehead as I carefully rotated the spits of beast meat over the flames. I kept my focus sharp, using my Cooking skill to help make sure each piece was cooked just right.
Al came to me almost an hour later and we got to work.
“First, where are you having trouble, internal or external?” I asked.
“Both, but more with the internal. Your trick with starting small helped and I’m able to get mana moving through one arm or the other but not both at the same time,” Al explained.
“Hmm, have you tried creating an echo?” I asked, remembering a tip from the notebook I received on mana circulation.
“What’s that?” Al asked.
I held up my right hand and traced my finger across my arm. “Start with the fingers of one hand, move up your arm, into your shoulder, across your chest and back, down the other arm, into the fingers, then send it back along the same path. Keep repeating that until it starts to feel natural.” I paused and watched as my Alphonse followed my instructions, his brow furrowing in concentration. I continued. “The idea is that eventually, you’ll send the mana down to one leg, then the other and back up into the other arm and back into your head then down into your heart and organs before returning back into the arm you started with. It creates a mana circulation through your body.” I shrugged. “It’s actually more difficult than the simple mana control exercise we were given, but I’ve heard it helps when you’re having trouble doing two limbs at the same time.”
Al nodded and closed his eyes, a look of concentration on his face as he continued to practise. I watched him for a minute before turning back to the food.
A couple hours later, the meat started dripping fat into the fire telling me it was almost done. It also smelled amazing thanks to the seasonings I added. Finally, I prepped the corn, peeling back the green husks to get to the silk inside. I removed the silk, tossing the waste into the fire, then pulled the huskback over the corn, repeating the process with each ear of corn. They all went on to the grill at the same time.
“Food in ten minutes!” I shouted as I pulled tongs from my satchel to turn the corn with them.
The rest of my team, looking tired and dirty, slowly trudged over to join me by the fire. As promised, about ten minutes later, the food was done. “I hope you all brought plates,” I announced as I stood. I pulled a chef’s knife from my bag and moved to the first beast. “Form a line and I’ll cut some meat for you and give you an ear of corn, some butter and salt.”
The line formed quickly, Seth taking up position at the front of the line, holding a bronze plate with intricate scrollwork around the edge. It looked expensive. Still, I cut some meat from the beast, placing it to one side of his plate before moving, painfully, to collect an ear of corn and put it on his plate. I scooped a dollop of butter from the bowl I brought with me and put it in the middle of the plate, then sprinkled a pinch of salt on the butter.
Seth was looking at me expectantly.
“What?” I asked.
“What about one of those rolls?” Seth asked, his eyes darting to my satchel.
“Comrade, I am sorry but we need to ration them,” I answered.
Seth scoffed, “I’ve been working hard, digging ditches and piling up corpses. I have had no time to recover my mana, give me a damned roll.”
I glanced around for Coach Liv but he hadn’t returned with the others. At some point he’d left me and Al by the fire, I assumed he was out checking on the wall and trench. “Comrade Seth, no. And if you make a demand of me like that again, I will break both of your arms.”
Seth gasped, then turned red with anger, “How dare you threaten me . . . you . . . you peasant! Do you have any idea who my father is? Do you have any idea what he can do to you?”
“No, I don’t know anything about your family and I don’t care. We need to ration them if we want to survive,” I replied. “Now go sit down and eat before your food gets cold.”
“You will pay for this,” Seth hissed at me before stomping over to the other side of the fire from me.
I filled a couple more plates before Sam stood before me. “Sorry about Seth. His father spoils him. He just doesn’t know any better.”
I nodded to that. I’d never had such an experience myself to know what it was like. “That doesn’t change the fact that if his attitude does not change, it will get someone killed.”
Sam recoiled at the bluntness of my statement. “I’ll try to talk to him.”
I nodded and looked past him to the next kin in line.
Everyone ate well, cleaning the meat from the bone on one of the beasts, thankfully leaving the other intact.
Coach Liv approached me after the meal, his eyes fixed on the other cooked beast and asked, “Can you preserve that one?”
“I don’t think I have enough salt. Still, it will be good for a day or two. We can eat it tomorrow,” I offered.
Coach nodded. “Very well. I’ll leave it to you.” He then sighed and looked past me to where Lulu’s body lay. “We need to bury her. In a month’s time . . . well, it’s never good to leave the dead lying around. It’s why we bury the rodent beasts. Are you okay if I take care of her?”
I nodded sadly.
Coach patted me on the shoulder and left me to deal with the beast meat.
After the Wandering Lair and the almost disaster the early portion of it was when it came to storing the food, I made it a point to carry cloth sacks with me . . . just in case. They came in handy now. I parted the meat, putting a large chunk into a sack then putting it in my satchel.
“Why do you get to keep all the meat?” Seth demanded, making a nuisance of himself once again.
Thankfully, Coach Liv spoke before I could, “Mister Sarong, that is quite enough. I asked Mister Belov to store the meat. We will eat it tomorrow.”
“And you trust this . . . Rychanian,” Seth practically spit out the word, “to not stab us in the back. How do you know he isn’t going to hoard it? Maybe he plans to starve some of us then raise us as zombies. Did you think about that?”
Coach Liv gave Seth a dark look, “I said that is enough, Mister Sarong. Right now, survival for all of us is the only thing that matters. Without Mister Belov, you would not have had this delicious food to eat. Without Mister Belov, we would likely be eating from our rations after ruining the meat because none of the rest of us have the cooking skill. Rations I doubt anyone brought enough for a full month. Or we would have been forced to try to cook the rodent beasts, would you have been okay with that? Mister Belov has earned enough trust from me and the rest of his peers. You, Mister Sarong, have not. So, I suggest you shut your mouth and stop speaking before you alienate the rest of your Lair Team further. Am I clear?”
Seth frowned and looked like he wanted to say something more but held his tongue, finally.
After I finished storing the remaining food, it was finally my turn to check my reward for completing the first wave of rodent beasts.
As expected, I received a pair of now very familiar boots. Unexpectedly, I also received two small vials filled with a familiar red liquid.
“Now how did he get that?” Seth demanded, seeing me observe the potion bottles.
Coach Liv groaned, “He earned them. Probably because he was so injured in the last fight. Lairs are living things, Mister Sarong. Must I explain this again?”
“But he’s a Rychanian, a dirty cheating, necromancer spawn,” Seth argued.
I ignored the following argument, choosing instead to put the vials away in my bag. I had a feeling they would be needed before we finished.